I have always loved the music of folk musician and activist Pete Seeger. He was a prolific song writer. In his music, we gain insight into the many causes he supported, such as international disarmament, civil rights and care of the environment. There is an authenticity and honesty present in his work. As he observed culture and life he responded to what was happening in our lives and in the world by infusing his songs with cries for justice. Voicing his passion for people’s rights through the music he wrote, he actively sought justice for our African American brothers and sisters. In fact, Seeger was the musician most responsible for popularizing the spiritual We Shall Overcome which became the anthem of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. Seeger was also very aware of the fact that good and bad exist in tandem. As he reflected upon American music, one of his statements is very profound in light of today’s gospel reading. He said, “The good and bad are all tangled up together. American popular music is loved around the world because of its African rhythm. But that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for slavery.”
Now, to be sure, there was and is absolutely nothing that ever validates or justifies slavery in our past history as a nation, or at any other time in the history of the world, including this present time. And, we need to continue addressing the racism that is still so present in our culture, racism that is rooted in the sin of slavery and has become systemic in this nation. In fact, Seeger would have been the first person to make that very clear. But, he was able to see the gift African American people have given the world, contributing to American culture, even though they came to this country through the evils of slavery. Seeger could keenly see that the good and bad in life are all tangled up together.
This is something Jesus clearly acknowledges in today’s gospel reading. The good and the bad are all tangled up together. Today, Jesus is telling yet one more story as he tries to describe the kingdom of heaven. He compares the kingdom to someone who went out and sowed good seed in his field. Then, that night, when the hired help were sleeping, an enemy – a word that would be better translated as “hostile human being” – came and sowed weeds among the wheat. This hostile human being sowed weeds, which are often called tares or bearded darnel. Truthfully, it is a “devil of a weed.” In its early stages, it actually looks like wheat. But, as its roots surround the roots of the good plants, it sucks up not only the precious nutrients in the soil but also the scarce amount of water. It becomes virtually impossible to get it out without ruining the good plant. This bearded darnel is not even discernible from wheat until the grain begins to form. So, it was only after the plants grew up and began to bear fruit that the weeds seemed to appear.
Like Jesus’ words to us last week, he is again using an example that is familiar to the people as he makes a point about the kingdom of heaven. As his story continues, when the crop finally started to mature, it became very obvious that the toxic weed had been sown among the wheat. The servants in the story wanted to pull up these weeds. But, the wise farmer emphatically said: "No, if you gather up the weeds you will uproot the wheat along with them. Let them both grow together until harvest time. Then we will separate the tares from the wheat."
Jesus acknowledges the presence of evil and its malicious nature. Yet, he calls for restraint because one cannot always be sure about these plants. What I find so interesting about the statement “let them both grow together,” is the Greek word that has been translated as “let.” This Greek word is “aphete” and, in the Bible it is most frequently translated as “forgive.” So, one could say the sentence is “forgive and let the tares grow with the wheat until the harvest.” Wow! Again, we have a parable that is all about the grace we find within the reign of God.
As human beings, we all have weed aspects within us. As a church, we exist as weed infested communities. We are tangles of wheat and weeds together, good and bad wrapped up together. The fact of the matter is that both grow within each one of us. I like the way theologian, John Petty, describes our weed side and the coming harvest. He writes:
We all have our “weed side” – that part of us which may look good, but doesn’t produce fruit. This part will be burned away, leaving only that which is built on Christ. Don’t worry. In God’s time of harvest, this will be seen and experienced as a good thing. After all, the one who judges us – the one who sends the purifying fire – is really the one who loves us the most. Our propensity to judge others will be burned away. Our sucking up to hierarchical authority will be burned away. Our trying to see ourselves as better than others will be burned away. Our moralistic fervor will be burned away. Our self-righteous attempt at self-inflation will be burned away. Praise God!
The blatant truth for each one of us is that we are imperfect people and we live in an imperfect world where evil is inevitably part of life. And, it is not always easy to distinguish the good from the bad. There are problems within us and around us that lie beyond our ability and power to prevent, correct or heal. But, the God who is seen in this parable is one of infinite patience and restraint. In this parable about a God of patience and grace, we find an intentional ambiguity that is holy as God allows the good to grow up with the bad. Theologian, Theodore Wardlaw, describes this place of holy ambiguity by saying:
God creates space that frees us to get on with the crucial business of loving, or at least living with each other. Often, in the space created by such patience, it is not just the others, but we ourselves, who are welcomed into a larger reality. This is the sense in which we are ‘reborn’ not just once, but over and over and over again.
Every one of us, every little child and every adult, lives life tangled and ensnared within a plethora of self-justifying impulses. We face self-love that has run amuck. We seem to trust in things that are not worthy of our trust. This is part of our humanity, part of life. This is what we who are Christians call “sin.” And, in God’s economy of grace, God’s constant surprise for us is that this God even uses our brokenness to bring forth beauty in God’s kingdom. God even comes to us through the weeds of our lives, our own brokenness. God mysteriously and graciously comes to us disguised as our life, and patiently transforms us into new beings. God’s gracious, patient love for each one of us, let alone the entire cosmos, is so great that God even takes the horror and evil of a cross and transforms that experience to show God’s deep love for our broken world.
While we live in a world where seeds of hatred and violence continue to be sown, Jesus’ words today remind us that God is still in charge. Yes, the good and the bad are all tangled up together, even within our very selves. We live as “saint and sinner,” totally forgiven and totally in need of forgiveness. But, we have been freed from slavery to sin. We have been freed to be truly human – freed to truly love with a love that comes from God. We have been named and claimed by this God of patience and grace who will never let us go. Thanks be to God!